What Makes a Great Online Casino?
Red Carpet Treatment at the Best Online Casinos
Gaming excellence, credibility, service, and reliability trump the competition!
Online casinos number in the thousands, but the diamonds among them
There are occasions when we here at ReadyBetGo want to bring you interesting facts about the gambling industry When something catches our eye, we will publish it for your enjoyment. 
are few and far between. The rapid rise in Internet gaming brought with it myriad challenges for online casinos. From a player’s perspective, online casinos have a lot more to prove than their land-based counterparts. A bricks and mortar establishment where players can roll their golden arms in craps, or pull the handle on a slot machine game certainly has tactile advantages over online casinos. However, the inconvenience, cost and time constraints make traditional gambling activity difficult. Enter the highly vaunted online casino – a veritable hive of Vegas-style attractions. To the untrained eye, an online casino dressed up with HD images, terrific landing pages and an attractive homepage may appear to be reputable. Unfortunately, this is not always the case as there are many factors that determine how an online casino is regarded. Let’s explore 6 characteristics of the world’s finest online casinos and how players can identify them quickly and easily.
- Full Licensing and Regulation with Trusted Authorities
The online casino industry is subject to strict regulation. Various gambling authorities sanction the activities of online casinos, notably the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC), the Government of Gibraltar, Antigua and Barbuda, and the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, among others. It is easy for a player to find the licensing and regulation of an online casino, since it is proudly posted on the footer of the online casino, or in the navigation bar in the About Us section. Licensing and regulation is your guarantee that the online casino is currently allowed to offer online gambling services for real money. It is a guarantee that the online casino is subject to compliance with regulatory authorities.
Another important aspect of online casinos that needs to be addressed is fairness. All outcomes of online casino games – except live casino games – are governed by random number generators, RNGs. These computer programs need to be independently tested and validated by third parties. All reputable online casinos offer players TST certification which displays the current payout percentages for all available gaming categories. The world’s premier online casinos have overall payout percentages of 95% +, with the highest payouts being for blackjack 98% – 99% and the lowest payouts being for games like Keno and slots.
- Customer Service Is Paramount at Online Casinos
Customer service bridges the divide between the Internet casino and the player at home, or on the go. Without customer service, there is no recourse for technical, banking, registration, gaming, or other issues. It is highly advised that before making a deposit at an online casino players should contact customer service to ascertain the quality and responsiveness of support. The world’s premier online casinos invest heavily in training their customer support service on all the issues. The best way to evaluate customer service is to contact customer support across all media options. These typically include telephone (or toll-free phone), callback functionality, live chat, email, fax, or snail mail. Complementary support features include FAQs, player guides, and other customer service options. If an online casino is lacking in the quality of its customer support service function, it is best avoided.
- Gaming Quality and Game Variety
Players are interested in an online casino for the entertainment value that it provides, not only its support functions. In terms of gaming, there is no substitute for high-quality games and lots of them. An online casino that offers only a handful of games is limited in its ability to attract lots of players and produce the necessary jackpots that players are looking for. The premier online casinos offer 100+ online casino games across multiple game categories. These include, but are not limited to: Slots Games (classic slots, jackpot slots and video slots), Card and Table Games (Blackjack, Roulette, Craps, Baccarat, Casino Hold’em, Caribbean Stud Poker, Texas Hold’em), live casino games (live Blackjack, live Baccarat, live Roulette, live Casino Holdem, live Caribbean Stud Poker), and other games such as Keno, Bingo, Scratch Cards and the like.
The games may be excellent in name, but how do they play out at the online casino? This is an important question. The top online casinos ensure that the right blend of gaming software providers is available. This is often a mix of proprietary gaming software and top-tier game providers like Net Entertainment, Evolution Gaming and others. The benefits of knowing which software providers are the best in the business include: peace of mind, bigger jackpots, and a large player network. It’s not only the available games at an online casino that matter – it’s how frequently the online casino replaces older games with new, upgraded games. Players are not static in their preferences – they always want to try the latest and greatest slots games and new live casino games. Casino games must be compatible across multiple media devices. These include PCs, desktops, Android smartphones and tablets, and iOS devices. Cross-platform functionality is the hallmark of the world’s finest online casinos. 888casino is an example of an excellent online casino, and players will do well to test the quality of this online casino’s gaming platform. It combines functionality and smoothness on mobile and PC. An online casino that fails this test is not worth its salt.
- Bonuses and Promotional Offers
The sheer number of online casinos out there means that it is difficult for them to stand out from the competition unless they offer players added enticements. These come in the form of bonuses. New players can enjoy many unique types of bonuses including: no deposit bonuses, free spins bonuses, matching deposit bonuses, multi-deposit bonuses and the like. Promotions are ongoing offers, or limited-time offers to encourage new players and active players to continue playing for real money. Promotions include daily promos, weekly promos, monthly promos, VIP club promotional offers and others. The more generous the promotional offer, the greater the likelihood that players will flock to the online casino.
- Banking Options Available
Banking is perhaps the most important aspect of real money play at an online casino. Without the option to deposit and withdraw funds, an online casino loses its appeal with players. Unfortunately, many unregulated online casinos masquerade as authentic operators by providing a full range of banking options. BTC online casinos are now coming to prominence too as government regulation makes it difficult, if not impossible, for online casinos to operate without licensing. Governments (example USA with the UIGEA) are sanctioning banks and financial institutions that transfer money to/from online casinos. Therefore, full licensing and regulation is important for banking purposes. Nowadays, players have access to Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, PayPal, UKash, Neteller, bank transfer, online bank wire, Skrill, iDEAL and others. The greater the variety of available payment processing options, the better for players.
- Responsible Gaming Advocacy
Responsible Gaming Advocacy ties in with the licensing and regulation listed in point #1 above. However, responsible gaming is something entirely different. Online casinos that ascribe to responsible gaming practices put the interests of players above their own. Responsible gaming advocacy means that a player at an online casino will have access to support for problem gambling. These types of support networks include GamCare and Gamblers Anonymous (GA). The online casino should take things a step further and allow players to put limits on the amount that they wager at the online casino, the option of self-exclusion, or the option to permanently ban oneself from playing online casino games for real money. Additionally, minors should always be protected from playing at an online casino. The legal gambling age varies from one country to the next, but the minimum legal gambling age requirement is 18+. Therefore, the reputable online casinos make a big to do about 18+ compliance, responsible gaming advocacy and problem gambling assistance.